X-men evolution: James' story
by hellz swordsman
Summary: James looses his family, and discovers his mutant powers. he gets shot in the chest and is hospitalized until the fight with cain marco. what will he do how will his adventure turn out? tune in and find out.
1. the bank, and the juggernaut

James Stewart was looking at the newspaper in his hand. It showed the Spiderman swinging through Manhattan. He frowned at the image. It had been a few months since he had showed up on the scene. There were many people who had showed up to fight the guy. James felt kind of bad for him. Seriously. Not that James really cared that people wanted to fight that much. In fact he would relish the challenge. He loved the challenge. Fighting was his favorite pastime. He was damned good at it. He had been practicing martial arts for as long as he could remember. His grandfather had been in the marines in WW2. He had taught James the basics of hand to hand combat. From there James picked up stances and moves from different instructors as he and his mom moved from place to place. Currently they were in a small town called bayville. His mother had come here meet his aunt to get some money that she had been willed when his grandfather had died. Apparently his grandfather knew that his mother was way to flighty, because his aunt was named controller of the money.

James stood beside his mother and his aunt Karol. He smirked at them. His twin moms they used to call themselves. Then he frowned. That was before they had a falling out about moving around all the time. Now he rarely got to see aunt Karol. Only when she had to give them some money. She and his mom were currently trying to get an amount that aunt Karol would allow hashed out. In other words aunt Karol was trying to make his mom see reason and not waste quite so much. He sat down the paper and went outside. He passed three burly guys walking in. once outside he pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. He took a long drag and leaned up against the backs outer wall. He frowned harder at the idea of leaving again. He loved his mom, and he enjoyed seeing new places. But he hated being away from aunt Karol. Not that he was going to have any say, again. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of gunfire, coming from inside the bank.

James burst through the door in time to see the three guys he had passed going out demanding money, and half a dozen bodies, including his mother and aunt Karol. James fell to his knees. Tears streaming down his face. He could hear yelling but didn't recognize human language. He felt a nudge in his temple. He looked up to see one of the men wearing a ski mask and pointing at him with an AK-47. He didn't even think. He used his right arm to knock the gun away from him and fired a straight punch into the mans gut which launched him across the room. He slammed into the wall leaving a huge crater in the wall. James turned towards the other two who were looking at him in fear. His eyes were glazed over and the humanity wasn't there. He charged at the remaining two men. He appeared before the first one, in an instant. James fired off a roundhouse kick to the man's head. The man was sent careening across the room. He turned to the final man only to receive a shotgun blast to the chest. James looked down to see the small holes leaking blood from his chest. He looked up to see the self satisfied smirk on the guys face. James narrowed his eyes and fired off another straight punch with as much force as he could manage into the mans sternum. Unfortunately this caved in his chest and when he finally stopped sailing through the air he was already dead. James smiled, then he fell to his knees. He passed out from blood loss.

* * *

The thing he saw was a man in a wheelchair rolling up to him. He looked down at James with a worried expression on his face. James blacked out and that was the last thing he knew.

James woke up in a strange room to find sirens wailing and warning lights flashing. He walked towards the sounds of a fight. Unfortunately his mind was addled by the painkillers that where coursing through his body. He was completely out of it staggering around and trying to keep moving forward. He arrived in a circular room to find a large man wearing a metal helmet deliver a mighty punch that sent a huge boy careening into a wall. There were people all around, each trying to attack the man none seemed to be succeeding though. This caused James to smirk he straightened up and walked forward. If he had been capable of conscious thought he would have heard a bald man in a wheelchair cry for him to get out. However the lights were on but nobody was home. He charged the tall man with the helmet. He appeared in the man's space. He sent a devastating palm thrust into the man's midsection. The man went sailing through the air and crashed into the wall. James watch passively as the man got up. He was stopped however when a blue teenager appeared on his head and removed his helmet. James watched in fascination as the man clutched his head in agony and fell to the floor. James frowned but he stood impassively and began to think why this had happened. He soon realized that quite a few people were watching him. He looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

"What? Not my problem he can't take a hit." James said with a frown. Everyone gazed at him with dumbstruck expressions. Then the woman with blue skin said.

"Boys come on we're leaving before they invite us to a sleepover."

She and a few of the others left the room, and James supposed, the entire place. He turned around and looked at the rest of the people and asked.

"So where am I? And how did I get here?"

The man in the wheelchair rolled forwards with a tentative smile. "Tell me James, what is the last thing you remember?"

* * *

James looked at the man with trepidation showing all over his face. He just knew he wasn't going to like this one bit.

James sat on a bed in the hospital wing of the x-mansion. He had just had the news broken to him forcibly. He was wondering whether or not he wanted to go to sleep and never wake up. He had heard that all bad things had come in threes, but seriously? His only family was dead, he had killed three people without breaking a sweat, and he was a mutant. He glared at the wall. Everything was wrong. Why on earth was this happening to him? He looked up in time to see the door open. In walked the man who had been knocked out on the floor.

"Hey you ok kid?" Wolverine asked with a growl. "You looked like you could use some physical meditation."

"You mean like sparing?" James asked sceptically. Wolverine nodded.

"Yeah somethin' like that bub." Wolverine said with a smirk. James nodded before standing up. He followed Wolverine out of the infirmary. He was led out into the rather large grounds of the mansion. They squared off against each other, wolverine in his x-men uniform, and James in a pair of light blue scrub pants and nothing else. James long auburn hair swayed in the breeze. He dropped into an improvised stance, and looked at Wolverine. Wolverine charged forward shoving a punch at James face, which James flashed through a rising forearm block and fired a palm-strike at Wolverines ribs. Wolverine twisted out of the way and tried for a sweep-kick. James raised his right leg and blocked the kick, only to fire a twist-kick to Wolverine's face with his left leg. Wolverine blocked the kick with a forearm block. By this time the attacks were coming faster and faster. James was getting lost in the moment, and began to attack with everything he had. He never noticed the crowd gathering around to watch this spar. James finally reach his nirvana sequence. He finally reached the highest form of peace. He lost all emotion, and struck at his fastest and hardest. The rising knee strike hit Wolverine's chin, and sent him flying away. James stopped all movement and looked on in awe as Wolverine landed in the trees. James could hear the other teens talking about the spar, and few that were talking about the scars that remained on his chest from the shotgun blast he took in the bank.

"James I think I have figured out your powers." professor Xavier said from his wheel chair. "I believe it's a form of telekinesis. It's possible that you have to be in contact with what you want to use your powers on."

"So you believe that I can move things with my mind?" James asked skeptically.

"Perhaps with more training." the professor said with a knowing smile. James just nodded and turned to look at Wolverine who was walking back.

"You pack quite a punch kid." Wolverine said with an approving nod. So with that James was easily inducted in the x-men with a very interesting future in the works.


	2. the lawyer, and the principle

James sat at a rather nice desk, in a lawyers office. Before him sat a green woman. Her name was Jennifer Walters. As far as James was concerned she was drop dead gorgeous, but he wasn't here on a social call he was here to finish up the estate from his mom and aunt. He had accumulated quite the amount of money from his misfortune, and the owner of the bank chain had added fifty thousand dollars to his account as a form of thanks/regret as to what had happened in the bank. He now had a hundred and ninety thousand dollars in the bank waiting on him to come of age. He also had his aunt's house here in Bayville and his mothers eighty-nine Camaro. She used to say it was her second greatest treasure.

"I have talked to Charles Xavier, he is willing to allow you to live at the mansion with the rest of the x-men." Jennifer said in a neutral voice. "I would also state that since you do have a house and quite a bit of money you could live in your aunts house."

"I'll stay at my aunt's house. I don't feel like living with a bunch of children." he said seriously.

Jennifer nodded knowing that after all this boy had been through he was anything but a child. "I will be the one you have to come to about receiving money from your bank account. However as its your money I feel you should be allowed to spend it as you see fit, so it's just a formality."

* * *

James nodded. He rose from his chair and thanked her. He then asked if there was anything else. When she said no he left her office. He walked out to the Camaro. He looked and the black car sadly. He slid in behind the wheel, and took off down the road. He had a few errands to run before he went to school tomorrow. Apparently everyone thought it was in his best interest to continue his education.

James stood at a desk before principle Darkholme, she was explaining the rules of the school and telling him what was expected of him. He wasn't paying attention.

"Mr. Stewart are you listening to me?" she asked in a low menacing voice. James looked at her for a moment, studying her before saying.

* * *

"Lady I don't particularly care about you or this school. I'll go to class, I'll do my work then I'll go home and continue not giving a damn about you or anybody else at this school. And for the record I was shot pointblank in the chest with a shotgun. I've been so close to death that I could swear I was gone when I blacked out. Compared to that you have no intimidation factor. So lay off the tough broad shtick 'cause frankly I don't give a fuck." with this said he grabbed his book bag and exited the room. When he was gone mystique was still dumbfounded by the dressing down she received, but ended up smiling. There was no way that this boy would join Xavier's little support group. He was much to volatile.

James exited his final class for the day and went to his locker. He began gathering the books he would need for homework and stuffing them into his bag. He was thinking of what he was going to do once his homework was done when he heard a voice coming from beside him. He stiffen then slowly closed the locker door. He turned to see Kitty Pryde standing there with a smile on her face.

"Hey." she said happily. "I'm supposed to tell you Logan wants you to show up for a session after school."

"Thanks,kitty. I'll be there. Do you need a ride?" James asked politely. Kitty looked at him in surprise.

"Um no that's ok, I'm going to get a ride from Scott." kitty said looking slightly skittish. James simply nodded and turned away. He walked towards his car, only to be stopped when he heard a voice calling. "Hey wait up!" he looked casually over his shoulder to see a young girl with reddish brown hair with white bangs come running up.

"Is the offer to get a ride back to the mansion open?" she asked rushed tone.

"I guess. Not gonna ride with summers?" he asked meeting her eyes. He arched an eyebrow when he noticed she was spacing out. He waved a hand in front of her face. She backed up looking confused.

"Sorry." she said thoughtfully. "It's just your eyes are so cool. I've never heard of anybody with purple eyes before. And no I don't want to ride with Scott he's being all broody about Jean going on a date with Duncan."

James nodded it made sense. "Sure hop in kid." He said pulling out a pack of cigarettes and popping one in his mouth. He looked down to see her hand sticking out.

"Can I have one?" she asked with a small innocent smile. He shrugged and handed her one. He lit them both, and put up the pack and the lighter. He then heard her hacking and coughing as she took a drag. He laughed so hard he dropped his cigarette into his lap. In his frantic panic to get the cherry before he burned his crotch he slapped down not thinking.

Rogue winced, then asked. "Hey are you ok that looks like it hurt."

James grunted then grabbed up the cigarette and took a long drag before tossing it from the car. He turned on the engine and looked at his passenger. "I'll not tell anybody if you don't. He said indicating the cigarette hanging from her lips. She nodded he accent. He then put the car in drive and took off through the streets. He left the school and headed towards his house. He parked and said.

"I'm going to get my gi, you can stay in the car or come in your choice." he turned towards the house and went inside. He walked up the stairs to the master bedroom. He had finished redecorating over the weekend. Now the master bedroom was all shades of deep purple and black. He opened the dresser's bottom draw and pulled out the black jiujitsu gi that was resting inside. He turned around to see Rogue standing in his doorway. She looked around the room in appreciation.

"I like the color scheme." she said with a small smile. He grinned before his expression turned sour. She caught that.

"What's wrong?" she asked in her thick southern drawl.

"It was my aunt's bedroom. I wasn't going to change it but my lawyer suggested it might help the healing process." James said with a reassuring smile, that looked more like a grimace. "Come on I'm sure their thinking I've kidnapped you to have my way with your cute little body." He turned and left his room. He didn't see her role her eyes, but he did hear her say. "Yeah good luck with that."

He turned around and looked at her with an arched eyebrow. "Not into guys?" he asked her knowingly. He just looked even more confused when she sputtered out a negative.

"I like guys just fine. It's just that my power hurts people I touch." she said seriously. He frowned at her before nodding.

"Yeah that would put a damper on the whole relations part of a relationship." he said before turning around and going into the bathroom to change. Once he was dressed he put his clothes in the hamper and left the house. He climbed in the car and waited for rogue to climb in beside him. Once she was in he left the house and drove towards the Xavier institute. They rolled up to the front door and found Wolverine sitting by the door.

"Your late bub." Wolverine growled.

"Had to get my gi" he said pointing at his choice of clothing.

"Well you'll be training with the x-men. In a combat situation." Wolverine said with a growl. "It'll be you versus them."

James grinned happily at the prospect. He rubbed his hands together and said. "Oh this is going to be fun."

"Easy there hotshot. You gotta remember that your dangerous so only martial arts if you can." Wolverine said placatingly.

"No prob' 'migo. No prob' at all." James said with a wicked grin.


	3. fighting X-men and the brotherhood

James stood in the danger room facing off against Xavier's x-men. In front of him was Rogue, Shadowcat, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, and Spyke. Each stood in a loose ready stance that spoke of basic martial arts training. James stood opposite gauging the others. He picked out Jean and Cyclops as the most experienced in the group, so they would be the first he went after. He cracked his neck, back and knuckles before dropping into a stance. He gaze a come hither wave of his fingers and watched with a smirk as the newer x-men bristled at the supposed insult. It got them even angrier when he lowered his head to look at the ground, or at least that's what it looked like to them, in reality he was watching them closely. That was when they had had enough.

"Don't underestimate us!" yelled Spyke launching a long bone spike from both arms. James just reached out and caught both, then raised his head and charged using the spikes as improvised swords. He crossed the fifteen feet between the in three seconds. It was the reactions of the X-men that allowed him to gauge threats. Jean, Cyclops, and surprisingly Rogue managed to get out of the way. The others didn't. James used a cross slash to the chest to send Spyke to the floor clutching his chest, and gasping for breathe. James shot a rising heel kick to Shadowcat's chin as she was sneaking up on him. Unfortunately she didn't know he could do that so it connected and took her off her feet and into the air. She landed hard and lay unmoving on the ground.

He turned to face the others with a satisfied smirk, and said. "That's two down in ten seconds." with that said he rushed forward at Cyclops. Cyclops fired off an optic blast, which James rolled under and kicked upwards. The hard rising kick planted both feet firmly in the visored boys stomach. Cyclops folded like a cheap chair. James smirked as he rolled to the right and barely dodged Rogue's curb stomp aimed at his head. He whipped his legs around and knocked her off her feet. When she fell on her back he hit her with an axekick from the ground, knocking the wind out of her. He then rolled backwards into a hand stand and fired off a helicopter kick that hit Nightcrawler, who had just teleported into range. Nightcrawler crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.

James looked at the damage to see all the X-men on the ground either unconscious, struggling to breathe, or in Cyclops' case vomiting. Then he realized he was missing one. Only to rise into the air. He looked over his shoulder to see Jean Grey looking at him with intense concentration. He frowned then grinned rather maniacally before easing off the his shoe on his right foot. When it was only hanging on by his toes he kicked it at her, hard. The shoe hit her right between the eyes, which promptly made her loose her concentration. He landed on his feet and dashed towards her. When she looked up it was to late to do anything but gasp, as his butterfly kick connected to the side of her temple.

"STOP!" came Wolverine's voice from the door of the danger room. James turned to watch him come inside.

"Is that really all?" he asked slightly upset at the X-men's poor showing

"Kid you fight brutally they were taught to fight by a pacifist." Wolverine pointed out.

"You're right." James said with a slightly resigned tone. He turned and walked towards his shoe. He grabbed it the exited the danger room. The last thing he heard was Wolverine asking them if they knew what they did wrong.

* * *

James arrived at his house and quickly took a shower. He then settled down to watch TV. He flipped through the channels for a good half-hour before deciding on a DVD as nothing caught his eye. He opened the DVD case that stored all of his DVDs. He searched for a while(read flipped through three times) before decided to just go to the mall. He started towards the mall but as he was passing Xavier's institute he gave into impulse and turned in. He parked in front of the building and got out of the car and made his way to the door. He walked in and was greeted by Ororo Monroe.

"James how can I help you child?" She asked kindly.

"Actually I'm here to offer help to another lonely child." He said with a slightly broken smile.

She cocked her head to the side and gave him a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"

"Well Rogue just gave me this really lonely vibe so I was going to ask if she wanted to go hang out with me?" James said in explanation.

"Well she is probably up in her room I'll go get her." Ororo said with a knowing smile.

"No need the professor told me he was here." Rogue said walking down the stairs. "So the professor said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah I got bored and decided I wanted to go to the mall. I thought I'd see if you would like to come with me and waste a few hours?" He asked with his patent wicked grin, made even more so by the fact that Ororo was watching the two with a raised eyebrow.

"Is this like a date? 'cause your cool and all but I don't think your date material for me after the training session today." Rogue asked with a grimace.

"No, no petite. I just thought you like me could use a sympathetic shoulder. Just think of me as your new ani, your new big brother." James said smiling widely. Neither was actually paying attention to Ororo But if they had they would have noticed a slight quirk of her lips. Rogue looked at him for a minute trying to decide his intentions. Finally she smiled and nodded. They walked to the car.

* * *

The duo walked through the mall, stopping at F.Y.E., Journey's, Hot Topic, and Angel of Darkness. It took Rogue for a spin when he bought her everything she wanted. At first she refused to tell him exactly what that was, but he told her how much he had in the bank and she relented. Given that he had never had a little sister he could spoil. He got them matching pure silver anatomically correct heart pendants saying they were sweetly macabre. He also picked up a lip ring in the right corner of his mouth to go along with the right nostril, eyebrow, and earlobe piercings that he already had. Rogue got a small skull shaped stud in the top of her right ear. They made their way to the food court laughing happily, each at ease with the other. Neither noticed four pair of eyes watching them. The duo ordered a large pizza and sat watching children playing in the kiddy area. All of their purchases sat around them while they ate, only for one bag to fly away with a tongue attached to it. The bag was caught by a white haired boy in jeans and a green tee shirt.

"Well well well, what have we here?" the boy asked looking into the bag. He pulled out a few CDs and a DVD. "It looks like someone is a rock lover." he commented looking at the CDs.

"You know I believe what you just did is called stealing." James said emotionlessly.

"Oh yeah? And just what are you going to do about it big guy?" Asked a boy in ripped jeans and a black vest.

"Kick your ass?" James said thoughtfully posing it as a question. But standing up. There was a crowd watching what was going on, and a security guard decided to intervene.

"Now now boys. I believe this stuff is his." He said taking the DVDs and CDs and handing them to James. "Now I think you boys should just move on."

The brotherhood looked pissed at the guard, but they left. Albeit with a lot of sneers and swearing. James grabbed the bags and asked Rogue to get the pizza. They left the mall with an angry air at being interrupted by the brotherhood. It was compounded when they spotted the brotherhood standing by James' camaro. He stepped past them and put their stuff in the trunk. He then made his way to the driver's seat as Rogue slid into the passenger's spot. Only to stop when he heard.

"I thought you were going to kick our asses?" asked the white haired boy.

James shut the door and walked towards them. "You sure you wanna do this?" he asked with an icy calm voice that set them all on edge. They all stood trying to look intimidating. It didn't work, except in Fred's case as he weighed about five hundred pounds.

"Bakas." James said shaking his head, before charging forward. He threw a punch at Quicksilver, only for him to dodge behind James and start to taunt him. Until James' rising heel kick caught him in the nuts. Quicksilver fell to the ground crying in pain only to be relieved of consciousness by a hammer back fist to the temple. James ducked forwards as toad's tongue shot out at him. He picked up a rock and threw it at Avalanche's head as he tried to conjure an earthquake. Avalanche dodged the rock only to receive a rising palm strike to the chin. James then rolled out of the way of Toad's slime spit, which sailed past its intended target and hit Blob right in the face. Blob had been about to through a dumpster at James let go of it to try and clean the slime off his eyes. It promptly fell on his head.

James turned to Toad menacingly, and said. "You done or you want to take a beating to?"

Toad held up his hands in an I surrender pose, which caused James to sneer at him. James got in the car and drove to his house without so much as a passing glance from either mutant to the downed brotherhood.

* * *

James sat down on his couch and picked up the phone. He dialed the number for the Xavier school and waited as it rang. When someone answered he asked to speak with Professor X. it only took three and a half minutes to get him on the line. James quickly explained their encounter with the brotherhood in the mall, with as few details as possible. He asked and received permission for Rogue to stay the night with him, which considering they physically couldn't do what it was most teenagers wanted they were given quite a bit of leeway. When the phone call to professor X was over they settled down to eat pizza and watch movies.


	4. nightmares and talking with mystique

James came to consciousness to a quiet house. It was three thirty-eight in the morning according to his alarm clock. His body was covered in a cooling sheen of sweat. His auburn hair was plastered to his back. His breathe was coming in ragged gasps. He looked around half expecting to see his mother and aunt, and only just catching the sob that he was about to loose. He got up and made his way to the front door. He was wearing only his black fleece pajama bottoms, but he left the house anyway. Since his aunt had owned this house for years he had a five mile run course. He left the front door and ran as fast as he dared. He tried to work through the nightmare he had awakened from. His aunt and his mother had been telling him that trouble was coming in the form of black clad figures.

"Well at least they weren't vague." He grumbled. "I mean its not like a stupid dream matters anyway right?"

He made his way through the last hundred yards then went back into his house. He stripped down in the living room and through his pants and boxers into the laundry room. He walked down the hallway and into his room. He was so preoccupied that he didn't even notice rogue's 'eeep' when she opened the door and saw him but-ass naked. James grabbed a pair of jeans and went into the shower. He scrubbed the sweat of the run and the nightmare off his body. He massaged some axe pheonix shampoo into his hair. He rinsed out the suds, then cut off the water. He climbed out and grabbed a towel.

After he dried off and pulled on the jeans he walked out of the bathroom and his room. He walked into the kitchen and saw rogue looking stricken over a bowl of fruity pebbles. She looked up at him and saw the red haired happy trail coming up out of the front of his jeans and ending at his belly button. The way his abs rolled under his skin like banded iron. His tight firm body seemed to move through the world like it was standing still. She blushed violently and a small trickle of blood leaked from her nose.

"You alright sis?" He asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I'm fine." she squeaked. He looked at her skeptically but said nothing. He walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out the eggs the peppers and the cheese. He set them on the counter then grabbed milk and ham. He pulled out a knife and went to work chopping up the peppers and ham. He soon added all the ingredients into a frying pan and began making a fresh omelet. Once it was done he sat down to the table. Rogue looked at the omelet with trepidation.

"What?" James asked confused.

"Why are there three times as many jalapenos as anything else in that omelet?" she asked looking at it like it might reach out and bite her.

"Well I like it to have plenty of kick." James said sheepishly.

"Well hurry up we have [places to go and things to do." She said putting her bowl in the sink. James nodded and began to scarf down the omelet. After he was done he put the plate in the sink and returned the ingredients to the fridge. He went to his room to grab a shirt and a pair of socks. He returned to the living room to find rogue sitting on the couch. She was dressed in a pair of ripped knee high black socks, a black miniskirt with silver chains. She had on a pair of black flats and a black shirt that had jack skelington on the front. James had on a simple pair of faded blue jeans and a deep blue polo shirt that meshed with his eyes and hair very well. He pulled on a pair of black and blue tennis shoes and grabbed his keys.

"You ready to go?" He asked as he grabbed a cigarette and lit it up.

"Yeah I guess so." Rogue said with a forlorn sigh.

James nodded his ascent, then said. "Off to school then.

* * *

James parked his camaro beside Scott's roadster. He climbed out of the car he hated going to school here. Or anywhere else for that matter he didn't much care for all the stupid emotional teenagers. None seemed to care about anything but themselves. He shook his head and made his way to the first place he had to go. He had decided to the lab he had heard about on campus. He walked to the back of the school and down into the crumbling ruins. He was surprised to see a dark skinned boy in the place.

"Hey." James called out. "Don't you know its dangerous down here?"

The other boy turn and looked at him for a moment. Finally he said. "True enough so why are you here?"

"Well I heard this was the lab of some super smart kid. I was hoping to get to meet him." James said with a smirk.

"Well you're looking at him." Said the other boy with a smile.

"Oh good. I wanted to get you to make something for me." James said with a smile. "I want you to make a bracelet that can suppress the mutant power of the one wearing it."

"Hm. That sounds like something worth having. I'll get right on it." Forge said with a grin. It was good to have something to do. James shook his head good naturedly and made his way to class. He got there right as the bell rang. He slid into the chair before his teacher looked at the class.

"Where have you been?" Rogue asked/whispered.

"Secret." He replied with a smirk knowing it would drive her crazy.

She scowled at him and stuck her tongue out like a sulking child. He merely chuckled and began paying attention to his teacher. He didn't like school, but he wasn't going to fail due to procrastination. He took notes for all the right places and answered any questions that were asked directly to him. He found it funny that due to his posture when writing most people thought that he was not paying attention so they would randomly call on him about the lesson. He was surprised that only his third period teacher had caught on to the fact that he really was paying attention. It didn't really matter though. It really didn't.

Finally the end of the day rolled around and James went home. Rogue had gone back to the manor, and James plopped down on the couch by himself. He was terribly bored, until he heard a knock on his door. He opened it and found principle darkholme standing there.

"Wow this is a surprise." James said beckoning her inside. "I don't know what I've done to warrant a home visit by the principle of the school."

"I came to you with a proposition." She said cooly.

James arched an eyebrow, then smiled and said. "I'm sorry ma'am but I can't accept. I just am not attracted to you. And its not because your not good looking its just that I don't really know you, and I'm waiting till I find someone I feel connected to so I'll have to decline."

She looked at him with a dumbstruck expression. Then she sputtered loudly shaking her head. "That's not what I meant. I want you to join the brotherhood of mutants."

"The guys I whipped the other night at the mall?" James asked with a frown. "And how do you know about mutants?"

She shifted to he natural blue skinned form. "Yes them, and I know because I am one."

James' eye ran up and down her body before resting on her eyes again, then he said. "Can I change my mind about not wanting to have sex with you?"

She looked at him with a deadpanned expression."You're to young for me." She said with a frown.

"Hm. True enough but you are smokin' hot." James said pulling out a cigarette. He lit it up and took a long drag. "So why should I join either of you guys? I want nothing to do with your little rivalry. I don't want to be involved with the sides. I mean seriously. I would rather play mercenary and fight both of you."

"Well that's not what I expected." Mystique said looking at him confused.

"Funny thing about expectation." James said with a quirky smile. "It's rarely correct."

"True enough." She said wryly. "Now what are your intentions towards my daughter?"

"Your daughter?" James asked confused. "I don't know your daughter."

"You know her as the x-men's rogue." Mystique said seriously.

"Oh little rogue?" James asked with comprehension. "I see her as a little sister. She needs someone who will be there for her. Like you obviously aren't" He added a scowl at the last.

"She doesn't know I'm her mother. The only time she saw me like this I was trying to make her hate the x-men." Mystique said with pain in her voice.

"Well your gonna have to tell her some time. But don't worry I won't tell her." James said with a tight smile.

"Your not so bad child. I wish we could have been partners me and you at magneto's side would usher in a new age for mutants. We would finally be free from the fears that plague our kind." Mystique said charismatically.

"Yeah it's just to bad that I just want to fight not be a crusader." James said nonchalently. "Anyways I need to get some sleep I have school tomorrow."

Mystique simply smiled and waved as she left the house. James shook his head before locking his door and going to sleep.


End file.
